


The Quest for the Legendary Kingslayer has been Unlocked!

by Okaysha



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Confessions, Happy Ending?, Kenma is Mean (for a little bit), M/M, Rejection, Video Games Saved my Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 22:51:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18375701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Okaysha/pseuds/Okaysha
Summary: Kenma is confessed to twice in the same evening.





	The Quest for the Legendary Kingslayer has been Unlocked!

While everyone was busy carb loading, Kenma studied the blade. More specifically, he studied the in-game stats of the blade. On the grassy hill outside the gym, Kenma sat, chin resting on his knees, reading the information on his most recent quest reward. The Jade Glaive would increase his attack another nine points— _nice._ Kenma expressed his glee, not with a smile, but by softly tapping his feet on the ground. _Then again_ —the Jade Glaive didn’t have the same enchantments as his last weapon. Nothing he couldn’t improve by taking it to the weaponry, but maybe he should take a look at the cost of upgrading before he got decided to commit. Moving his avatar to enter the nearest town, there was suddenly a peppy jingle of electronic music that signaled a cutscene. _Beep-a-da-beep-bop-boo!_

The music was a little different this time, switching from the usual royal march with beeping drums and booping trumpets to a melodic flute sound that conjured images of romantic sakura petals. One of Kenma's chosen travel companions, Regina Royull’s, image sprite popped up. She was tall, with long dark hair and big brown eyes that were filled with determination. Currently, she had a slight blush, eyes averted off screen in contrast to her usual bold stare-down of the player. Kenma clicked through the dialogue with suspicious incredulity.

‘Hero, that last mission had me worried.’ >>

‘For a second, I was almost sure you would perish.’ >>

‘I hope you don't take this to mean that I don’t have faith in your abilities, but…’ >>

‘You are supposed to be my rival, but this last quest got me thinking how much I respect your abilities. How important you are to me.’ >>

Kenma stopped clicking through the dialogue to sigh to himself. In this latest release, the game added the bond feature that gave extra bonuses to the companions the player used most. If you traveled with a companion long enough, the player gets a short cut-scene with the opportunity to build the bonds by answering to the situation in a way the companion liked. The problem that created though was whenever you had a female companion, leveling up the bonds almost always led to some sort of confession scene. Kenma only chose Regina Royull, the secret queen of a rival kingdom, for her high proficiency stats—not because he was interested in pursuing her. He just didn’t see the benefit—romances were tedious at best, so it was easier to avoid them.

‘Hero…’ >>

‘I...have feelings for you.’ >>

_ << Hero, do you accept Regina Royull's feelings? >> _

Kenma tapped < _no > _without a second thought.

Regina's sprite looked pained, still looking off to the side of the screen.

‘Oh. I see… Thank you for listening anyway, Hero.’ >>

A heavy _bang!_ shot through the air and Kenma’s eyes snapped to look down the hill to the gym. He was no longer alone.

Kageyama froze, back pressed against the building he’d just failed to quietly slip out from. It was a lot like catching a cat after knocking a glass off the counter—they’re only sorry when they get caught. The freeze-response ended after a few seconds of eye-contact. Kageyama snapped his heels together, straightening like a soldier at attention.

“Kenma-san,” he barked, face pinching into the stiff scowl he’d been sporting whenever he was directed towards Kenma.

Kenma nodded lightly in acknowledgment, expression revealing nothing but cool passivity.

He had no high hopes, but he longed to avoid this turning into something troublesome. Kenma had taken several advantages against Kageyama today while they were on the court (Kuroo even accused him of targeting the Karasuno setter, but Kenma was simply making the plays he felt were best in the moment). Kageyama had spent the next few days of training camp with the same look he had now. Not just on the court, but in the cafeteria, outside, that one time they ran into each other in the bathroom…

Kenma’s skin prickled as Kageyama began a stilted walk towards his direction. Instinctively, Kenma scanned for an exit before realizing there was none. There was no way out without first going through the red-faced, eyebrow-pinched, mouth-narrowed, ill-tempered Kageyama. Kenma could feel his palms begin to sweat at the prospect of having to have a conversation with a grumpy person. Talking people down wasn’t his thing. Talking to people, in general, wasn’t his thing. Where were any of the few people Kenma could talk to (he could count out the full number of people on his fingers) when Kenma needed them most? Where were his friends?

Kageyama stopped when there was about a foot of uncomfortable distance left between them. Kenma attempted eye contact, but trying to look up made his eyes see spots because, from his position, the blinding sun was setting directly over Kageyama’s shoulder—not that Kenma hated having an excuse to NOT have to make eye contact. He settled on looking at Kageyama’s hands, noting the tension in his clenched fist.

“Kenma-san,” Kageyama’s fists quivered as they tightened further. “I-” Kageyama tried to continue, but the sounds not longer tripped off his tongue.

Kenma had spent a lot of time reading hands. It was helpful during a game to see the subtle angles of wrists and fingers—how a person set their hands would betray how they’d set the ball. But as he watched Kageyama’s hands give one final squeeze before he finally spoke—Kenma didn’t understand what he heard.

Kenma wiped his bangs out of his eyes, squinting up at the Karasuno setter as though getting a better look could correct his hearing.

“Ah. Sorry. _What?”_ Because he _thought_ he’d heard the words ‘I like you.’ Kenma had to assume the sun had somehow managed to blind his ability to hear as well.

Kageyama’s eyes sunk like dark stones, landing on the ground at their feet. He still looked a little flushed from their practice and his nose flared as his chest heaved with each new breath. Kenma glanced at his hands, unclear about what to read in their slackness. Tired? Futility? Regardless, Kageyama did _not_ repeat.

Kenma sighed internally before snapping his DS closed with a plastic clack. _There._ Kageyama had his undivided attention. For more emphasis, Kenma patted the handheld to the ground beside him.

Kageyama followed the motion, eyes shifting closer to Kenma but still not looking directly at him.

Kenma took the moment of silence to appreciate all the noisy friends he’s since made. At least he didn’t have to do much to keep them going—what’s with the sudden stonewalling when Kageyama was the one who came to Kenma first?

Kenma didn’t have much patience or skill or _desire_ to coax out a conversation out of an unwilling participant—which was what he was expected to do here, right? Kenma huffed, the breath lifting his bangs to give Kageyama a clearer view of how his expression had flattened with unamusement.

“Kageyama?”

Kageyama’s posture straightened into an uncomfortable stiffness as his eyes bobbed back up to a fierce stare.

Kenma smiled wryly, anticipation curdling in his stomach like bad milk. Was this gonna be, like, a declaration of rivalry or something?  

“I like you, Kenma-san.”

There he goes agai- _Wait._ Kenma’s thoughts chugged to a messy halt, thoughts bumping into each other in a chain effect. He held a hand up as if the motion could stop the entire scene. A minute. He just needed a minute to think. A new perspective.

His other hand fumbled for his DS, slipping it in his pocket before hurriedly pushing himself to stand. The sun no longer glared over Kageyama’s shoulder, now contained behind the broad back of the younger setter. In a way, some things were clearer. Kenma could see Kageyama, flushed to the tips of his ears and down past the collar of his uniform. His determined gaze. His widened stance—the same as though he were prepared to receive whatever Kenma might toss his way.

Kenma dropped his hand.

“I like you, Kenma-san,” Kageyama repeated forcefully, as though the only thing holding him back had been Kenma’s signal to stop.

“What?” Kenma felt something tighten uncomfortably in his chest, his expression twisting into distaste. _“Why?”_

For a moment, Kageyama looked confused. His gaze wavered, shifting to the side and then back.

“I don't know. I think you’re... _cool_.”

Kenma’s face soured further, eyes and lips wrinkling.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Kenma’s expression stayed in a knot. What was Kageyama thinking? What did he expect would come from saying something so ridiculous?  

Nonetheless, Kenma felt his cheeks burn and he hated the thought that the involuntary response might possibly be mistaken for infatuation.

“Are we done here, then?” Kenma stepped to go around only to be blocked as the younger setter stepped along with him.

A gust of wind broke through the windbreak line of trees, chilling the sweat that Kenma hadn’t showered off yet. He clicked his tongue.

“It’s getting cold. Let me _go-_ ”

“B-but! You haven’t responded…” Kageyama exclaimed, the volume and passion petering out of his voice halfway, ending in a mumble.

With as much venom as he could muster, Kenma's voice dripped poisonously as he responded, “What did you expect from me? _That I’d like you back?”_

Kageyama recoiled slightly, his previous determination clearly a bluff.

Taking advantage of his lowered guard, Kenma shouldered past, fleeing the scene.

Kenma didn't look up to see where he was going, watching his feet as he navigated his way across the grounds and the tiled halls of the dorm and back into the room where the Nekoma team had laid out their bedding. He plopped down on the futon he’d been sleeping on the past couple nights, feeling just as exhausted as he would have been if he'd gone ahead and did extra practice. Kenma hoped to find some comfort at last, pulling out his DS and cracking it open. Comfort didn't come. Instead, he was stuck staring at the sad face of the recently rejected Regina Royull.

Kageyama was the first to confess to Kenma in real life. Not as easy to dismiss as it is in games. And, Kenma had to admit, he was in denial for a while and maybe panicked and ended up speaking a little harshly. Or _a lot_ harshly. But he didn’t hate Kageyama or anything...

Kenma harshly tapped through the rest of the dialogue until the cut scene was complete. That’s a problem for a different day—now, he’d just focus on equipping the Jade Glaive. Kenma peered at the weapon’s attribute slots, interest peaked when he saw there was a locked slot. Sometimes weapons could be evolved if the player leveled up the weapon enough, unlocking rare special powers. Kenma quickly set aside his game, pulling up his phone. Maybe he could look up what its evolution was to see if it was worth putting more time into…

Pulling up the Wiki and scrolling through the Jade Glaive page until—

Kenma stopped scrolling as he was hit by a wave of dismay. The Jade Glaive was one of the only weapons that would evolve into the legendary King Slayer—the only weapon in the game that halved the SP and HP usage on all moves. And it was only unlockable during a special quest prompted by Regina Royull’s route.

Kenma’s knees crept up as he buried his face there with a groan. He hadn’t even considered he might miss out on content just because he didn’t want to bother with romance. But! He hadn’t saved yet—maybe he could take it back?

* * *

‘Hero, that last mission had me worried.’ >>

‘For a second, I was almost sure you would perish.’ >>

‘I hope you don't take this to mean that I don’t have faith in your abilities, but…’ >>

‘You are supposed to be my rival, but this last quest got me thinking how much I respect your abilities. How important you are to me.’ >>

‘Hero…’ >>

‘I...have feelings for you.’ >>

_ << Hero, do you accept Regina Royull's feelings? >> _

< _yes_ >

Kageyama looked taken aback, blinking rapidly with an intensifying frown.

Kenma grimaced. Why did Kageyama have to act so surprised—wasn’t he the one who’d asked in the first place?

“You…accept…?”

“Is that really all you have to say?”

Kageyama scratched the back of his head. “I thought-” he gulped out.

“We should exchange numbers, right?” Kenma pulled up his phone so he didn’t have to look Kageyama in the eye. “I’m pretty good at responding to texts. Not that I always have much to say…”

“T-that’s okay. No. That sounds good. Yeah. I don’t know if I’m that good at texting. But I’ll try.” Kageyama’s hands shook as he handled his phone.

After a few seconds of stumbling, Kenma’s phone vibrated with the short message ‘Hello’.

“Looks like it works…” Kenma mumbled, dropping his phone to his side.

“Yeah…” Kageyama followed suit.

Now what?

<< _The Quest for the Legendary Kingslayer has been Unlocked!_ >>

**Author's Note:**

> My friend used to have 3 Haikyuu buttons: Kagyama, Hinata, and Kenma. Unfortunately...they lost Hinata! 
> 
> "It's weird! There's no reason Kageyama and Kenma would hang out together! Hinata was the glue!"
> 
> So, I wrote this fic to show they could /totally/ hang out and they could even love each other! (Hahaha, whether I succeeded at this feat could be questioned)


End file.
